I had a nice long weekend – mainly hanging out at home, but we did get out on Friday night for Mexican food near Okamoto station. Me going to a Mexican food place in Japan is never a joyous experience. The bar is set impossibly high, and it really isn’t fair to rate the experience against a trip to Los Cuatros Milpas in San Diego or Bor Corona in Tijuana. This place had not only Mexican food but also some California dishes – ribs, burgers and mac and cheese (?). We tried a little bit of everything (except for the mac and cheese) and overall it wasn’t too bad.

The guacamole was too sour – a little too heavy on the lime juice I guess, but other than that the Mexican food was better than average. We had pork and chicken tacos, and they both were pretty good, and the quesadilla was good too (but really, how do you screw that up?)

As for the burger and the ribs, well, nothing special. I liked the ribs actually, but the meat in the burger was thin and lifeless. Too bad. So the final result is a solid B minus. We may or may not be back in the future, I’m not sure.

Timing is not on my side this week. Although today the rest of Japan is going back to work after the three day weekend, I have the next four days off. I was hoping to get outdoors and do some exploring, but a typhoon has hit our area, and right now the wind and rain are slapping every window in our house. There is no way I’ll be able to go out in that. So today, and likely tomorrow as well, I’ll be stuck at home indoors.

Hopefully things will blow off by Thursday and Friday – I’d like to get out and do some exploring and some shopping this week.

After work yesterday I met up with Yoshi for some dinner and drinks in Tarumi. I’m not a frequent visitor to Tarumi, but since Yoshi lives nearby he is always happy to show me around. We started at a small izakaya and enjoyed a couple of interesting dishes – a mix of yakitori, salad, and a strange dish with small pieces of toast, thinly sliced onions and thick slices of bacon. It was kind of like make-your-own BLT without the tomato. Everything went with the cold beer we were drinking, and the atmosphere was “traditional Japanese izakaya” which is hard to explain but a pretty good environment for drinking.

While eating Yoshi and I talked about his upcoming trip next week to Cambodia and Vietnam, and my trip next month to India. He’s very excited about his trip, and just a little nervous. I warned him not to drink the water, wash the fruit with your own bottled water before eating it, and try to spend some time each day doing nothing but relaxing. Sometimes vacations can get overcrowded with activities, and they end up seeming like work. He’s going with some coworkers who are pretty cool, so I’m sure they’ll have a good time.

Afterwards we figured we had another drink or two in us, so he took us to a kushi bar in western Tarumi that specialized in wine. With a couple of glasses of wine we had grilled zucchini, avocado, erengi mushrooms, and some sliced cheese. Although it was a lot of food it was fun to check out a new place and try some new wines. Too bad all this excitement was happening on a school night.

When I got home poor Kuniko was already conked out in bed – she had a very exhausting seminar – so we had to wait to catch up until this morning. We’ll go out to dinner tonight, though – it’ll give us another chance to bring each other up to speed on what we’ve been doing. Today is the last day of work for the next nine days – that’s always good news.

Tonight Kuniko will get back from her trip, and I’ve got one last hurrah of single life after work before things get back to “normal” around here. Yoshi and I will meet up in Tarumi for dinner and drinks. It has been a while since I’ve hung out with Yoshi – we went hiking back at the end of spring, but the heat now makes another hike pretty much impossible. Instead we’ll take it easy during the summer months and then get back to it once fall rolls around.

Last night I came home, fixed up some leftovers for dinner, and kept plowing through the new book. It is amazing how quickly time flies while I’m reading it… I guess that is a sign of a good book…

Yesterday at about 4 pm Japan time, it was midnight in California, and the long awaited new book from the Song of Fire and Ice series by George RR Martin was officially released. Between classes I fired up the Kindle application on my iPhone and was able to buy and start reading the book in less than a minute.

We are truly living in the future.

It’s a big book, so it’ll take a while to get through it, but so far what little I have read has been good. I should have plenty of time next week to delve as deeply as I’d like and really get into the book. Good timing, Mr. Martin.

Last night after work I met up with the two inspectors for tachinomi, as well as one of my students, Mr. Kase. He was eager to try speaking more English with more people, and he did reasonably well. We were able to keep the conversations going without too much Japanese. The more that Mr. Kase drank, the louder his voice seemed to get, however. I don’t think he noticed, however. After a couple rounds of drinks and some roast pork I headed home and left them to their conversation. I’m guessing it wasn’t a long one.

Today is a pretty normal day – I should be home on time to work on leftovers and continue reading. This week is going to go by fast – I can tell already.

The heat is definitely on around here. Walking to and from work is a sweaty affair, and even just leaving my classroom and walking in the hallway of the building starts to get the sweat going. And to think that summer is only just starting.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been having some pain in one of my teeth in the back. I think it is time to finally head to the dentist to have them check it out. I’m sure it’s a cavity – I haven’t been to a dentist in years. I’m hoping it is something they can fix without any downtime at work, though. It is essential for me to be able to speak clearly. I guess the upcoming week off might be a good time to get it taken care of. Ugh, dentists.

Today Kuniko is off to do her study camp with the students, so I’ll be on my own for a couple of days. We’ll see what trouble I manage to get myself in.

Last Friday after work Kuniko and I met in Nishi Akashi to visit a Spanish restaurant that our neighbors had recommended. It was small, crowded and lively, and we sat between two big tables full of shouting drunken people, which made conversation a little difficult. I’m all for shouting drunken people – I have plenty of experience being a shouting drunken person – but in this small place it was a little too much.

Despite the rowdy atmosphere the food was better than average, and the paella (although a little too greasy) had excellent flavor. We also had avocado salad, and a duck confit that was quite good. They also had a strange wine system – 3000 yen for a 750 mL bottle of wine, but a carafe of the same stuff (500 mL) was only 1500 yen.

Saturday Kuniko was working and I spent the day at home cleaning and doing laundry. We had a little party of our own in the evening, eating leftover Mexican food and hitting the cocktails, and even making a drunken trip to Uniqlo. It made it a little tough to get up on time Sunday morning to prepare for our guests.

I had invited one of the people that works at OTC over for lunch with his family. I have worked with this guy for a couple of years now, and I figured it was finally time to have him over for some BBQ. I met him and his family at 11 am at the local station, and it was hot. He had brought his wife and two kids, and they were all very friendly, and not shy at all.

The kids were great entertainment as we ate lunch and sat around the table. They were completely honest about the food (which I thought was refreshing) and everyone laughed when the little girl said that Kuniko’s homemade bread was not delicious. But she still tried to eat it, which was cute. We played around for most of the afternoon, giving our living room a workout. The kids were pretty active, and our sofa became a jungle gym. The bar counter was also popular – the kids would climb up onto a bar stool and ask for a drink, and then I would serve then OJ or milk in little shot glasses. I’m not sure their parents were so thrilled with that, but the kids enjoyed it.

Finally we called it a day and walked them back to the station. The kids seemed to have enjoyed themselves, and the little girl was holding Kuniko’s hand all the way back, crying because she had to go home without Kuniko. Her brother was a little more proactive, trying to setup a time for us to visit this summer. The only person that wasn’t so friendly was my coworker, who looked a little tired throughout the visit, and didn’t seem to be too into lunch. Mysterious…

This week should be pretty lively. Kuniko will be on an overnight trip with students from Tuesday to Thursday, so I won’t see her until Thursday night. Tuesday I’ll go out to the tachinomi with an inspector and a student. Thursday I’ll meet Yoshi in Tarumi for drinks after work, and Friday Kuniko and I will head east to visit a burger and taco shack that we drove past by chance a few weeks ago. Then, the following week I have completely off from work – nine days in a row. Can’t wait…

This week is wrapping up! To celebrate the end of the week, we’re going to a Spanish restaurant that was recommended by Fukumi-san. The most interesting thing about the place is that it is in Nishi Akashi, the next town on the JR train line to us. We’re hoping that it will be good – we usually get our Spanish food at various places in Sannomiya. It would be fun to have a place closer to us.

On Saturday I have the whole day off, and no special plans. Sunday my boss from OTC is dropping by with his family for a light lunch. If the weather holds up I’m hoping to BBQ, but if it is pouring rain I’m thinking about busting out the Mexican food again. One thing I still haven’t learned how to do around here in control the weather.

But I’m working on it.

Wow, that was fun. Last night four of Kuniko’s coworkers came over for some Mexican food. It was the first time for me to meet three of them, and I had a great time talking with them and eating and drinking into the night. The food was a hit, and we even had shots of tequila and blended margaritas at one point, so you can gauge the party level from that I guess. We finally got to bed on the late side so I’m a little tired this morning. Today might be a little tough – we’ll see how it goes. Tonight Kuniko has a baking class, so I’ll be on my own with the leftovers (of which we have plenty).

I’m counting down the days until the new George R.R. Martin book comes out, Dance with Dragons. It is supposed to be quite a tome, but I’ve got a lot of free time coming up, so I should have a good chance to take it slow and enjoy it. Hopefully I can get a digital version over here in Japan…

Another rainy day outside – it looks like rainy season continues to hang on. Hopefully it will stop in time for our BBQ on Sunday…

Yesterday evening we spent most of our time cleaning the house and getting ready for Kuniko’s party tomorrow night. We made salsa and guacamole, and tried to prepare everything so that it will be easy for Kuniko to prepare when she gets home. I think the party will start before I get back, so she’ll have to keep everybody in drinks and also start cooking dinner. Should be interesting.

As for me, I’ve got just another normal day at work. I’m hoping to sneak away a little early today to assist with the entertaining, but my schedule after regular classes is pretty odd and I never know who might drop in. Hopefully, today – nobody.

Yesterday after work I made it 90% of the way home before the sky exploded in rain and thunder. Two ways of thinking about it, really. One is that I carried around an umbrella for 90% of my day but only actually used it 10% of the day. Not very efficient. The other is that I kept my umbrella dry for most of the day, but in the end it did get a little wet.

Luckily the worst of the storm happened after I settled in at home, and from my window I could watch the lightning flashing and hear the cracking and rumbling sounds outside. I love a thunderstorm, mainly because they were fairly rare growing up in California.

Last night for dinner we had a salad and some leftover enchiladas. Today is our prep day for the party on Wednesday, so tonight we’ll have a simple dinner and work on cleaning the house and prepping some dishes for Wednesday night. Should be a pretty busy one tonight.

Just like that the weekend is over and it seems like it just got started. We were both pretty tired this morning, and it was hard to get out of bed, even with the prospect of a nice cool shower.

Sunday we made a road trip into Amagasaki for a hit and run at Costco. This trip was completely successful – they had everything on our list (even some beautiful flank steak for carne asada) so we shopped and left before it got busy. Next door at ex-Carrefour we picked up some beer from Sonoma (Hot Rod Ale) which is pretty rare for Japan. Ex-Carrefour still has a better than average wine selection – we passed up buying a Coppola Director’s Cut Zinfandel and a Clos Du Val Zinfandel because of the price, but it was the first time I’ve seen them for sale in Japan.

We were back on the road home around 10:30 a.m., and got home a little after noon as rain started to pour down. The rest of the day was cleaning house, doing homework, and enjoying enchiladas for dinner.

Saturday we went over to the Fukumi’s place for dinner. It was just the four of us, so we had a lot of time to talk and really get to know them better. They cooked a delicious Italian dinner – pizza, pesto, risotto, and some delicious salads as well. They also kept the wine flowing, so communication was getting both easier and more difficult, if you know what I mean. Good times.

Wednesday Kuniko invited some coworkers to come over for Mexican food, so today and tomorrow we’ll get the place ready for a mid-week party. We’re going to have Mexican food on Wednesday, so we’ve got to make some guacamole and salsa as well. Should be fun…

Last night Kuniko came home with some bread from her baking class, and it was really good. Kind of like Italian style, with a lot of vegetables and basil baked into it. Yum. Since I was on my own for dinner I had cooked up a pizza I bought at the supermarket, but only after I had spiked it with mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and Chinese hot peppers. Again, yum.

Today is Friday – and I’m glad. We’ve got a bit of a busy weekend coming up. Tomorrow we’ll go over to the Fukumi’s place for dinner and to catch up with them, and then we’re considering a Costco run to Amagasaki on Sunday. Next week we’re hosting two parties, so we’ve got a lot of things that we need to pick up there. Right now Kuniko has a million things going at work, and not enough time each day to get them done, so the weekend really hinges on whether she needs to work more at home or not.

We’ll see how it shakes out. I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, though…

While it is easy to remember summer months in Japan as waking up bathed in sweat, or taking a shower and then stepping outside and needing another one, one thing I always kind of forget is the change in how long we sleep.

In the winter it is very hard to get out of bed, and it is a struggle to get out of bed before 6:00 a.m. But now we’ve been getting up before 5 a.m. every day – no alarm required. It’s nice to be up and at ’em without effort every day.

Today after work Kuniko will attend a baking class, so that means that I’m on my own for dinner. I’m torn between stopping somewhere on the way home or scrounging up some leftovers around the house…

The week is chugging along with temperatures getting hotter and hotter. My guess is that the rainy season is over, but my students insist we’ve got a couple more weeks before we’re out of the woods. The humidity is doing a number on the herb garden. Little tiny aphids are starting to eat the mint, and the cilantro decided to stop growing where it was. I’ll give it another week and then harvest it all, I think. There’s a taco party coming up next week anyway, so good timing.

These next two days will be especially long at work. Some of my students had to reschedule their extra classes, and so they’re piled on the next two days. I’ll have very little time between classes, so that always makes the days go by quicker – but I’ll be plenty tired at the end of them. Thanks to these switches I should have a nice easy day on Friday. Let’s hope it stays like that.

Gotta run – I’m on the hook for dinner so I need to peruse the kitchen and see what to make…

It was a tough transportation day yesterday. I had a 15 minute delay going to work – someone suddenly collapsed in the front of our train, but luckily it happened at a station and they were able to pull them off the train and get them to a doctor ASAP. Then on top of that, at the next station we were delayed because somebody had jumped in front of a train at Shin-Nagata station, causing the local train line to be delayed even more. But considering that all of that happened and I still was only delayed 15 minutes, I guess I can’t complain too much. I usually arrive an hour before class begins, so arriving 45 minutes before class starts isn’t a big deal.

Last night we had some Jerry’s Pies – these things are great. Last night was chicken/mushroom and steak/onion. They are really good – it’s like eating at a British pub. With pies we had to open a few beers and everything went together very nicely.

Kuniko’s car is in the shop today, and so they left a loaner car here for her to drive around until they finish up doing almost nothing to her original car. The new car is cute and it has Kuniko dreaming of a new car in the future – which is exactly what they had hoped would happen. But it is nice to drive around a new car without having to worry about insurance or anything. I’m not sure how long we’ll have it, though.